According to Ampere Analytics, tentpole Insomniac action game Marvel’s Wolverine sold about 2.16 million copies in September, making it the second best-selling PS5 game of the month, behind EA Sports FC 27. (Obviously.)

It looks like a soft number on the surface, especially when you consider this is accounting for around two full weeks of sales. (The title is likely to be frontloaded, partly due to its nature and also because it doesn’t have particularly glowing word of mouth behind it.)

However, the numbers are low compared to other estimates.

Alinea Analytics, for example, predicted the title had sold 1.9 million copies as of 17th September. It’s worth noting that Alinea attempts to aggregate global data, while Ampere focuses on 45 markets, including the US and UK.

Neither should be treated as official sources.

Nevertheless, it’s been reported that the game cost up to $300 million to make, with a hearty licensing fee to Disney included in that figure. That’s a big number to make back, then.

And some have noted Sony’s silence as proof that the game’s failing to meet expectations. Most publishers will announce sales milestones, like Bandai Namco earlier today, confirming that Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve has soared to one million units faster than any other game in the franchise.

However, I think it’s important to note that PlayStation has never been consistent with these kind of announcements. It confirmed record-breaking success for God of War Ragnarok earlier in the generation, but generally it reserves sales data for financial calls.

I think we’ll probably get a statement on Marvel’s Wolverine during the firm’s upcoming earning report in November, where it’ll likely give us a concrete number if it’s satisfied with the results.

The reality is that Marvel’s Wolverine was never going to sell as well as Marvel’s Spider-Man – compare the Box Office results of the respective franchises – although this clearly wasn’t a cheap project, so Sony will be looking for a respectactable return on its investment.

But while most games are frontloaded, there’ll still be plenty of opportunities for Sony to flog more copies of this gory foray. It could bundle the title over the holidays, for example, or look at targeted price promotions around Black Friday and the holidays.

I’m personally not overly concerned about the long-term success of the project – at the end of the day, these are just predictions, and we’ll know more once PlayStation breaks its silence in the coming weeks.

[source thegamebusiness.com]